A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for personalizing a portable data carrier, in particular a chip card, as well as to a personalization unit or personalization station employable in the method and to a corresponding portable data carrier.
B. Related Art
The invention is in the field of the manufacture of portable data carriers comprising a chip in the form of an integrated circuit which is provided in a body of the portable data carrier. A portable data carrier can relate here to arbitrary kinds of storage media, such as e.g. USB sticks. In a preferred embodiment, the data carrier is a chip card (e.g. a smart card), wherein the chip of the chip card can be configured as a memory chip or as a processor chip with a corresponding microprocessor. In data carriers not configured as chip cards, the body of the data carrier is formed in particular by its housing. In contrast, the body of the data carrier in chip cards is the card body of the card in which body the chip is integrated. This card body is normally made of plastic.
Portable data carriers are frequently manufactured individually for a person or institution, so that it is necessary that the data carrier is personalized for the corresponding person or institution. Personalization is to be understood here as the depositing or applying of information which is associated individually with a single person/institution or a single data carrier to the chip or the body of the data carrier. This information can comprise for example the name and address of the (future) card owner or card-related keys. One distinguishes in this connection between optical and electrical personalization. In optical personalization, the information applied on the body of the portable data carrier is optically visible to a user or can be made visible via corresponding means (such as e.g. lenses). In electrical personalization, electrically readable information is deposited on the portable data carrier, in particular on the chip of the portable data carrier or, where applicable, on other storage media of the portable data carrier, such as e.g. a magnetic stripe.
As a rule, the personalization of a portable data carrier is carried out by a personalization unit which obtains the personalization data to be applied to the respective data carrier from a service provider or the issuer of the data carrier. The data must in so doing regularly be transmitted from the service provider or card issuer to the personalization unit at least partly via public networks. Because the personalization data involve highly sensitive personal information, suitable cryptographic encryption methods are employed upon the transmission of these data. This has the disadvantage that corresponding encryption mechanisms must be made available, and there must be provided in the personalization unit a security module for decrypting the transferred data.
In the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,335,799 B1 there is described a method for the immediate issuance of personalized cards to a user, wherein person-specific information of the card user is imprinted on the card via a printer on site. The cards employed in this method have no IC chip.
In the document EP 1 023 703 B1 there is described a method for electrically personalizing a smart card, wherein personalization data are transferred from the card issuer to a personalization place in the form of a file. The transfer of the file is effected e.g. via a floppy disk or a secure network connection. At the personalization place the personalization of the smart card is subsequently performed on the basis of the transferred file.
In the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,857 there is described a further method for personalizing a smart card, wherein the card is personalized by a retailer on site and subsequently issued to a customer. Within the framework of the personalization, information is exchanged between a computer of the card issuer and terminal devices of the retailer via cryptographically secured data connections.
The object of the invention is to make it possible to personalize a portable data carrier on the basis of a simple infrastructure.